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Shonda Rhimes Is Taking All Her Brilliant Talent To Netflix

See ya later, network TV.
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Senior Editor, HuffPost

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Shonda Rhimes, the creator of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal,” signed an exclusive, multi-year deal with Netflix, the streaming service announced on Sunday. 

The award-winning writer and producer will soon move her production company ShondaLand from Disney-ABC studios to Netflix. Although Rhimes plans to continue to be involved with the current projects on air and in development with ABC, she will now create new projects solely for the streaming service. 

“Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest storytellers in the history of television,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said in a statement. “Her work is gripping, inventive, pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, taboo-breaking television at its best ... We’re so excited to welcome her to Netflix.”

Rhimes said she was looking for an opportunity to “build a vibrant new storytelling home for writers with the unique creative freedom and instantaneous global reach.”

“The future of Shondaland at Netflix has limitless possibilities,” she added.

Rhimes’ shows for ABC have generated over $2 billion in revenue, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal, which broke the news, also estimated that Rhimes’ new production deal would earn her more than $10 million per year.

Netflix’s decision to lure Rhimes away from a traditional Hollywood network follows other big moves, including signing a deal with former “Late Show” host David Letterman to launch a new program in 2018.

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Before You Go

Empowering Shonda Rhimes Quotes
(01 of08)
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"Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It's hard work that makes things happen. It's hard work that creates change." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement
(02 of08)
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"I want my daughters to see me and know me as a woman who works. I want that example set for them. I am a better mother for it. The woman I am because I get to run Shondaland, because I get to write all day, because I get to spend my days making things up, that woman is a better person – and a better mother. Because that woman is happy. That woman is fulfilled. That woman is whole." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement
(03 of08)
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“This moment right here, me standing up here all brown with my boobs and my Thursday night of network television full of women of color, competitive women, strong women, women who own their bodies and whose lives revolve around their work instead of their men, women who are big dogs, that could only be happening right now.” -- From Shonda's The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast
(04 of08)
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"I think in telling LGBT stories, I'm telling everyone's story. Love is, in fact, universal, right? … I want my daughters to grow up in a world in which there is more love than hate. I want them to know a world where everyone is free. So that's why I write the stories that I do, because everyone should be free." -- From Shonda's GLAAD acceptance speech
(05 of08)
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“I’m a black woman every day, and I’m not confused about that. I’m not worried about that. I don’t need to have a discussion with you about how I feel as a black woman, because I don’t feel disempowered as a black woman.” -- From Shonda's NYT profile
(06 of08)
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"Most of the women I saw on TV didn't seem like people I actually knew. They felt like ideas of what women are." -- Shonda's 2006 O Magazine interview
(07 of08)
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"The best stories are often true… The narrative of human life is most beautiful when told truthfully and without boundaries." -- From Shonda's Glamour Women Of The Year speech
(08 of08)
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"Yes, it is hard out there. But hard is relative. I come from a middle-class family, my parents are academics. I was born after the Civil Rights movement, I was a toddler during the women's movement, I live in the United States of America, all of which means I am allowed to own my freedom, my rights, my voice and my uterus." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement
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